Waka Ama: Veteran Tuis grab national honours

Hereatunga 60-plus paddlers Linda Hill-Rennie (left), Bev Williams, Les Lenden, Gaylene Sciascia, Linda Tomuli and Jana Johnson on the way to winning the W6 1000m turns race. Photo / Waka Ama NZ

Heretaunga Tuis, of Hawke's Bay, are now golden girls after winning the W6 1000m turns race at the Waka Ama Sprint Nationals at Lake Karapiro on Saturday.

The 60-plus category paddlers also clinched bronze in the 500m sprint later in the day.

While the Aurora team from the Waitakere club had beaten the Tuis in the heats of both races on Friday, the Tuis benefited from also racing in three senior master's races (50-60 age group) that day.

Stroke Linda Hill-Rennie said despite the heavy workload, it helped them "sort out" their turns for the final.

That experience paid golden dividends in the final when they nailed their last turn to grab the lead, then held on in the sprint home to edge Aurora by 0.18 of a second, clocking 6:10.90.

Parihaka's Tupu-a-Rangi team were third, 10s adrift.

In the 500m sprint the extra work of the day before caught up with the Tuis as they faded in the second half. Aurora won by under a second from Parihaka, with the Tuis a further two seconds back.

Tuis paddlers Linda Tomuli, Hill-Rennie and Lesley Lenden made the individual 500m sprint final on Thursday, finishing 6th, 7th, and 8th, respectively. The others are Bev Williams (2015 singles silver), Gaylene Sciascia and steerer Jana Johnson

The club's U19 junior women's teamed up with the J19s from Napier to claim silver in the W12 race (where two waka are lashed together to make one 12-person canoe), racing under the combined Kahungunu Taumata Rau (KTR) banner.

In other Bay results, Heretaunga's senior master men, Steel Eels, were fourth in the 1000m turns final and sixth in the 500m sprint; Heretaunga J19 men eighth in the W12 final; the J19 men's KTR team came fourth and the J19 KTR women sixth in their respective 1000m finals.

The women were also eighth in the 500m sprint. The KTR senior masters women were fourth in the W12 500m; and Truman Stuart, of Napier, came fifth in the J19 250m dash.

The Heretaunga Tuis, Steel Eels as well as the KTR J19 men and women qualified for the world sprints.